After revitalizing and writing the Green Lantern series for nine years, Geoff Johns is ready to say goodbye to Hal Jordan and the multicolored Lanterns in the book’s 20th issue scheduled for May. According to The Washington Post, Johns said he reached the point in his current storyline where he’s comfortable handing over the Power Battery to another skillful writer:
I was getting to an end point and a story line that made sense for me. I felt like it was time to close my run and focus all my energies on the Justice League corner of the DC Universe.
It was a very, very hard decision. I absolutely love these characters but I felt like I had a story line that really made sense and felt emotionally satisfying and felt very big and very epic.
While stepping down from the main series, Johns is not leaving the Green Lantern universe yet. He’s taking Muslim-American Green Lantern, Simon Baz, with him for Justice League of America with artist David Finch. Johns will also continue to write Aquaman and Justice League, while serving as chief creative officer for DC Comics.
Johns first slipped on the Power Ring in Green Lantern: Rebirth, the six-issue miniseries illustrated by Ethan Van Sciver that brought back and reinstated Hal Jordon as the franchise’s hero. He also wrote two of DC’s most popular comic book events set to the series, Blackest Night and Brightest Day, and reintroduced readers to Hal again in the New 52 reboot. A new Green Lantern writer has yet to be announced.
